Who attacked Iran last week?

[silencertalk]

"Naghdi, commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij Forces, was referring to Dr. Majid Shahriari, a leading Iranian nuclear scientist who was reportedly heading efforts to fight the Stuxnet virus that has crippled Iran’s nuclear program. Both Shahriari and another leading scientist, Fereidoun Abbasi, were targeted in simultaneous attacks last week in Tehran. As the men were driving to work, motorcyclists pulled up to their cars and attached magnetic explosive devices to them. The attackers drove off as the bombs exploded.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/15 ... z18Cv290Ag"

I wonder who did this? I wonder who did the computer virus?

Incredible. I mean seriously, did Iran not have anti-virus protection? And who could develop a virus that is this effective? I mean, it seems to greatly out-perform any that has hit the public.

The truth of this story has to be awesomer than any movie.

[jlwilliams]

I wouldn't put it past an internal Iranian group. Possably even the Iranian government itself.

[Hellrazor]

I wonder who did this? I wonder who did the computer virus?

There is some serious covert s--t going on... I'm glad to see someone else has picked up on it.

The virus is the most amazing thing I've heard about... ever. Read about it here:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/ ... ambitions/

[Libertarian_Geek]

Oddly enough, the worm that was used is one that remains dormant unless the computer is connected to a very very specific range of motor controllers (one made in Finland, the other in Iran). Even more specific is that it further targeted to only affect ones running at specific speeds. It adds subtle errors to the rotational speed (and probably other goodness.) Oddly enough, these characteristic triggers (manufacturer + specific frequency) are rarely seen in industry control systems for anything other than a couple of very specific uses. So it's quite specific to Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Specificity - Extremely High
Damage - To the computer system and industrial motor controller low...
Damage - To a time consuming process that depends on accuracy... high
Collateral Damage - Extremely low

In other words... Nice

[Hush]

I don't think its far fetched to consider the U.S. and Israel and possibly a third party collaborating on a project of this magnitude.
Better this than Israel shooting missiles and starting a war which we would possibly get involved in, I don't think we have the manpower for another front.

[700PSS]

I don't think its far fetched to consider the U.S. and Israel and possibly a third party collaborating on a project of this magnitude.
Better this than Israel shooting missiles and starting a war which we would possibly get involved in, I don't think we have the manpower for another front.

True, but only delaying the inevitable.

[jeephipwr]

These are weapons of the 1st resort, so we dont have to use weapons of last resort

[Libertarian_Geek]

These are weapons of the 1st resort, so we dont have to use weapons of last resort

When the UN's involved, there are usually infinite "weapons" of toothless diplomacy between the first and last.

[silencertalk]

The media has made it sound like they caught this worm or virus just like anyone else catches one. Clearly it was sponsored by a govt. Why is this not much larger news? This is covert warfare on Iran.

[Hellrazor]

The media has made it sound like they caught this worm or virus just like anyone else catches one. Clearly it was sponsored by a govt.

+1 this.

I could see the US behind the virus/worm. I do not see the US behind the motorcycle bombs. These were scientist vs. enemy combatants. Hell, we don't condone water-boarding.

Why is this not much larger news?

I'm not sure. This is the most fascinating thing I've heard all year.

[jlwilliams]

The media has made it sound like they caught this worm or virus just like anyone else catches one. Clearly it was sponsored by a govt.

+1 this.

I could see the US behind the virus/worm. I do not see the US behind the motorcycle bombs. These were scientist vs. enemy combatants. Hell, we don't condone water-boarding.

Why is this not much larger news?

I'm not sure. This is the most fascinating thing I've heard all year.

This.

To clarify my earlier post, the motorcycle bombings may have been internal. The cyber atack is an enigma.

[AZ-K9]

US/German collaboration.


We've come a long fucking way since the 40's.

[silencertalk]

Motobombs could be Israel.

[arrowshot]

The media has made it sound like they caught this worm or virus just like anyone else catches one. Clearly it was sponsored by a govt.

+1 this.

I could see the US behind the virus/worm. I do not see the US behind the motorcycle bombs. These were scientist vs. enemy combatants. Hell, we don't condone water-boarding.

Why is this not much larger news?

I'm not sure. This is the most fascinating thing I've heard all year.

This.

To clarify my earlier post, the motorcycle bombings may have been internal. The cyber atack is an enigma.

My bet is Israel did both.

[silencertalk]

So what would you do if someone on a bike stuck something to your door? Would it be best to calmly pull over or just jump out the door at full speed? How would you even know what it was?

[JacksonBrowne]

Mossad was killing Iraqi nuclear scientists like this during 1979-81 in Iraq and Europe. The Israeli Air Force finally got the Shah's F16s (which he couldn't receive because of the revolution) and blew up the reactor.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 224502914#

[Selectedmarksman]

The truth of this story has to be awesomer than any movie.

Indeed. It appears that the perpetrator Is real.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PTK]

The truth of this story has to be awesomer than any movie.

Indeed. It appears that the perpetrator Is real.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Win. You know how much?

[bakerjw]

Just to add some color commentary. Whoever designed the virus knew that Iran was using Siemens PLCs with WinCC. It was a very targeted attack.

[silencertalk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

[David Hineline]

Ask too many of the wrong questions, and we will be saying where did Mr. Silvers go?

[Glock35]

Nothing like having a contractor (aka mole) accidentally plug in/insert an infected device into their network.

[Hush]

[silencertalk]

If this was in a movie, I would say BS - not reasonably possible to pull off.

Now I believe a govt could pull it off, but I am just surprised one did it.

[BWT]

So what would you do if someone on a bike stuck something to your door? Would it be best to calmly pull over or just jump out the door at full speed? How would you even know what it was?

How do you even know they stuck it to the door, what kind of fuse did it have (how much time would you have upon activation)?

One could've thought that they slapped your door, or had a close call, and nearly clipped your vehicle, etc.

I think it was a collaborative effort of multiple nations honestly.

Honestly, I don't underestimate the Israeli's... but I don't think they'd have access to the technology/capability that other countries would have to design something of this scale.

To have such intricate knowledge of the materials/equipment they're using and then design something specifically for those systems to override and sabotage them so gradually as to leave the Iranians guessing what happened except that their system kept failing or wearing/breaking down prematurely or damaging itself.

The sad part is, we're aware of it, as are the Iranians, so it failed. Meaning the issues can be corrected, and it'll be that much harder to get another system in place for sabotage... or sabotage may not be possible next time.

Fascinating stuff though.

Maybe the Israelis were given the tools to do the job and others constructed them?

Interesting stuff.